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Academic debate at the Catholic University of Lublin "Cardinal Karol Wojtyla - facts, archives, interpretations".

"Kard. Karol Wojtyła - facts, archives, interpretations" is the theme of the debate, at which experts, including prominent historians and experts on the history of the Catholic Church in Poland, will address questions, i.a. concerning recent allegations against Pope John Paul II. The discussion, with the participation of Paweł Skibiński, Ph.D. DSc, Ewa Czaczkowska, Ph.D., Robert Derewenda, Ph.D., and Łucja Marek, Ph.D. DSc. will be held on March 29 at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (KUL). The debate will be moderated by Krzysztof Ziemiec, a journalist.

The meeting will commence at 2 p.m. in room 114 at the Knowledge Transfer Center KUL.

Media publications on Cardinal Karol Wojtyla, the social and historical context of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla's time as Metropolitan of Krakow, the surveillance of Cardinal Karol Wojtyla by the services of the communist regime, the methodology of working with archival materials, including those from the resources of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN), and the measures taken by John Paul II to protect children and young people are among the issues discussed during the debate at the Catholic University of Lublin.

Krzysztof Ziemiec, a journalist, will moderate the academic debate dedicated to the former professor and lecturer of the Catholic University of Lublin, who later became Pope John Paul II. The meeting will begin at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 29, in Room 114 at the Knowledge Transfer Center. The debate will be public and broadcast online.


Following the debate, there will be an opportunity to meet and talk with the experts.

Profiles of the speakers:

Pawel Skibinski Ph.D. DSc., professor at the University of Warsaw - historian, specializes, i.a., in the history of the Catholic Church in the twentieth century (including a publication on the first pilgrimage of John Paul II to Poland in 1979); director of the Museum of John Paul II and Primate Wyszynski in Warsaw 2010-2015; currently co-directs the Roman Dmowski and Ignacy Jan Paderewski Institute for the Heritage of National Thought, and he also chairs the editorial team of the multi-volume publication "Pro memoria" by Stefan Wyszynski.

Ewa K. Czaczkowska Ph.D. - journalist, columnist, lecturer, and spokeswoman for Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw, for many years, has focused on the history of the Catholic Church, worked for more than 20 years in the daily newspaper "Rzeczpospolita," author of a biography of the Primate of the Millennium, Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński; co-author of a book on Father Jerzy Popieluszko; founder of the Areopag XXI Foundation, which initiates debates on i. a. the Catholic Church, religious faith, and civilizational changes; organizer of the Documentary Film Festival "Cinema with Soul."

Robert Derewenda Ph.D. - director of the Institute of National Remembrance in Lublin, a lecturer at the Catholic University of Lublin, where he works in the Department of Historical Sources, Archival Studies and History Didactics at the Institute of History and teaches classes in archival studies and history didactics, his research concerns the repressions of the communist authorities against the Light-Life Movement and its founder Fr. Franciszek Blachnicki; director of the Main Archive of the Light-Life Movement from 2004 to 2012; expert at the Ministry of Education and Science in the field of history and knowledge of society.

Łucja Marek, Ph.D. DSc. - historian from the Historical Research Office of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN) in Cracow, specializes in the subject of State-Church relations during the People's Republic of Poland, including the methods of operational work of the security apparatus against the Catholic Church, her doctorate thesis "The Clergy is Our Enemy. The policy of the state authorities towards the Catholic Church in the territory of the Katowice province in 1956-1970" was defended at the Department of Church History of the Pontifical Academy of Theology in Cracow; in addition, she obtained an archival studies specialization at Jagiellonian University.